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Best mobile games of the year so far: The Stillness of the Wind
Now that Q1 of 2019 is behind us, it’s time to look back at the best of what’s released so far. It’s not all been peachy, with a number of big-name titles disappointing, but I’d wager we’ve already seen several proper GOTY candidates – most of which are premium single-player games. It’s impossibly hard to keep up with every mobile game that comes out, so this little series might spur you on to try out a few you said looked really cool but never got around to playing. So without further ado, here’s my first pick. The Stillness of the Wind It’d be easy to downplay this one’s successes, shrugging it off as a dreary take on somethin…
Mortal Kombat 11 on Switch look like another super impressive mobile port
With Mortal Kombat 11 now available for PS4, Xbox One, PC, and Switch, the big question of how that mobile port stacks up against the home console versions has now been answered. And, for the most part, it seems like pretty good news. It comes as an especially big surprise that it’s decent seeing as we only got our first look at the port less than a week ago. Unsurprisingly, the Switch version has taken a noticeable hit to resolution – with the cutscenes in particular looking fairly murky, to my eyes below 720p – but the framerate does appear solid, which is really the most important thing in a fighting game anyway. When in motion, that lowered resolution isn’t quit…
Distraint 2 is a truly great mobile horror game
Genuinely great horror games on mobile are typically few and far between, so it’s absolutely cause for celebration when a title as sharp and unnerving as Distraint 2 comes along. The original Distraint launched for iOS back in 2017, gaining praise for its tight control of tone and absorbing exploration of guilt. Thematically, it was a challenging game, forcing players to confront the widespread impact of their own struggles to make ends meet in a system that allows for the constant and easy dehumanisation of others. The sequel continues to follow this thematic line of questioning, expanding it in ways that surprise and disturb in equal measure. It retains the grim aesthetic of the…
Very Little Nightmares for iOS expands the world and mythos of Little Nightmares
I don’t think I’d ever have guessed that 2017’s Little Nightmares would become such a sizeable trans-media hit. With a fully-fledged sequel likely in development, a mobile spinoff on the horizon, and a TV show hailing from Marvel’s Russo brothers & stop-motion animation legend Henry Selick, the Little Nightmares IP is well on its way to becoming a household name. In retrospect, I suppose there was no better time for Little Nightmares to have come along, with Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark, It 1& 2, and Goosebumps 1 & 2 proving that fantasy horror – with a specific focus on children vs monsters storylines – is very much in high demand. Very…
My week with The Elder Scrolls: Blades
Around a week ago now, I put together something of a beginner’s guide over on Pocket Gamer for The Elder Scrolls: Blades. In that article, I had a bit of a moan about the current state of Blades’ chest/loot system, as has seemingly everyone else who’s played the game at this point. Now that Blades’ early access version has opened its doors to any and all comers, I have to wonder just how many people will actually stick with it until the full 1.0 release. Usually I’m happy to reserve judgement until such time as a game is in a finished state, but something about Blades’ monetisation model has got me irked. I think the reason why is that the core gameplay…
The Elder Scrolls: Blades’ latest update looks to fix the game’s biggest problem
The much-reviled silver chest has been the bane of many a Blades player’s existence for the last couple weeks. Every mission seemed to doll out a silly amount of them, meaning everyone’s chest inventory was almost constantly full. The real issue, though, was that each silver chest took 3 real-world hours to unlock, a dreary process that put many of us off the game entirely. However, with the game’s latest update, Blades’ development team has listened to the overwhelming fan feedback and shortened the timer significantly. Now you’ll only have to wait a mere hour before yet again being disappointed with the contents of your 30th silver chest in a row. The move j…
Will Tencent’s Game of Thrones: Winter is Coming head westward?
The final season of Game of Thrones might have started, but the big question isn’t who’ll still have their head once all is said and done, but rather when – if at all – Tencent’s mobile spinoff Game of Thrones: Winter is Coming will become available for mobiles in the west. Strangely, Winter is Coming recently released over here as a browser game, despite seemingly starting life as a mobile title developed by the Shanghai-based Yoozoo and produced by the goliath Tencent. From what I can gather, the game merges city building with RTS battle sequences and fan-favourite characters from the show, including Jon Snow and that creepy fire lady. Looking at footage of…
3D puzzler Globesweeper offers up a new take on classic Minesweeper
If you’re into gaming as much as we are, you’ve likely played (or at least heard of) Minesweeper. One of the original set of puzzle titles that came with Windows operating systems back in the day, its straighforward and addictive gameplay quickly made it the most played game on PC. Globesweeper takes everything that made Minesweeper great and ups it, adapting the grid-based layout of the original game to make it entirely 3D. Rather than simply navigating around a flat square grid you'll be trying to not blow up across entire worlds. These can range from smaller 92 tile maps to colossal 20,480 tile ones. There are four levels of difficulty to choose from which when combined wi…
Grand Mountain Adventure, the award-winning open-world skiing game races onto Android
The stellar open-world skiing title Grand Mountain Adventure has finally mid-air flipped its way onto Android. This one made a sizeable impression at the Big Indie Awards 2018, coming in 3rd place overall, so it’s fair to say that anticipation levels have been high for some time. Starting out right at the bottom of the Hirschalm ski resort, you’ll be tasked with navigating the open mountain to find ski passes, challenges, and well-hidden secrets. With huge scope for a more meditative, exploration-focused playstyle, this one clearly isn’t just for thrill-seeking sports fans. That being said, they’ll find plenty to sink their teeth into with the intuitive trick syst…
AndroidApple Arcade is a subscription gaming service coming to iPhone and iPad later this year
Last night, Apple revealed the details about its new gaming subscription service. It's called Apple Arcade, and it's being touted as the Netflix for games that we've all been hoping it was going to be. Apple confirmed that the service won't use cloud servers to stream games directly to your handset - something Google is working on with its Stadia concept - instead you'll pay a flat monthly fee, which will then give you access to the entirety of the Apple Arcade library. You'll need to download them onto your device the same way you do now, you just won't have to go through the payment process again. All of the games on the service are going to be premium - there'll be no ads or extra purch…
Our pick of the top iPhone and iPad game of the week - Monsters With Attitude
Every week here at AppSpy we like to pick one new game that we think you should definitely check out. This week's just the same, and the game we've chosen is the raucous multiplayer brawler Monsters With Attitude from Flaregames. The game sees you playing as one of the titular attitude-crammed critters, and stomping around a little world smashing everything that moves. So far, so .io, but there's more to the game than might first meet the eye. For one thing you can unlock new and more powerful monsters, as well as toughening up the ones that you've already got. And there's no eating here either - mash into another player and you'll steal some of their energy, which you use to get bigger.…
Call of Duty Mobile is real, and it's coming to iPhone and iPad later this year
This week, Call of Duty Mobile was officially revealed over at GDC. The game, which is being developed by Tencent and Activision, has long been mooted to exist, but over the past couple of days we finally got to see it in action thanks to a brand new trailer. That trailer shows off a hell of a lot of action in just 30 short sections, as you'd expect from the mobile version of one of the most bombastic and explosive FPS series that the console world has ever known. And pretty soon you're going to be able to get it all in the palm of your hand. Expect famous characters, famous maps, and loads of famous modes to make an appearance - there's not much point making a game based on one of the big…
One to watch - Covens is coming to iPhone and iPad this week
It can sometimes feel like all the AR-enabled, location-based games on the App Store are aiming for the same audience. Not so with Covens, which is set to come out worldwide this Thursday, March 20th. And it's fair to say that we're excited to see how this one plays out. As you might be able to tell from the name, this is a game about witches. You build a character, learn some spells, and then head out into the world (literally) to try and show all the other players that your coven isn't to be messed with. There looks to be more action here than in the likes of Pokemon GO, and while it might struggle without a massive license backing it up, the slightly grittier art-style paired with the m…
Is The Elder Scrolls: Blades finally coming to iPhone and iPad later this month?
It's fair to say that The Elder Scrolls: Blades is one of, if not the most anticipated upcoming mobile game. It's based on a massive IP, from what little we've seen it looks amazing, and it's clearly been given plenty of time to become the best game it can. Which is why we're writing this piece about its release date with some trepidation. When the game was first announced, pre-orders went live on the App Store. But the release date of the game has changed multiple times since last year. We thought we'd see it in November, we thought we might see it in December, but now we're into the third month of the new year and there's still no sign of the game. Well, that's not exactly true. The iOS…
Our pick of the top iPhone and iPad game of the week - Block Droppin' Blitz
Sometimes a puzzle game comes along that knocks you for six. Other times a puzzle game comes along and slides onto your homescreen and, almost without you noticing, becomes the kind of game you go back to over and over again. Block Droppin' Blitz definitely fits into the latter category. It's a game that's sort of two games. Your screen is split in half - at the top you've got coloured blocks, at the bottom you've got a clear space. Match a group of four blocks of the same colour and they'll drop down to the bottom part of the screen. You need to make horizontal lines, like in Tetris, to clear them from the lower portion. It's a really clever idea, and while it is another match-stuff puzzl…
